Candidate and founder of grassroots organisation Challenging Councils New Zealand Mark Quinn had earlier distributed flyers around Alexandra advising he was holding meetings at the town’s Anglican Church hall yesterday.
Two meetings were scheduled — one at 1pm and the other at 7pm.
Members of the public were to learn more about his aims to keep rates down and reduce council waste and how he intended to implement new technology to save costs.
People were also encouraged to bring questions for Mr Quinn to answer.
But at 1pm, Mr Quinn did not appear and, as the minutes ticked by, he was still absent.
Vincent Community Board member and Central Otago district councillor Martin McPherson was one of the 25 who turned up to hear what Mr Quinn had to say.
Being an elected member he was interested in seeing what was going on in his area, Mr McPherson said.
"I turned up to see what he had to say, and he wasn’t there."
After about 10-20 minutes of waiting, people began to leave.
As well as running for mayor, Mr Quinn is seeking a seat on the Teviot Valley Community Board.
Mr Quinn appeared before a small crowd at his scheduled 7pm meeting yesterday.
